Purple Knights Split ECC Baseball Opener With Dowling

Brookhaven, N.Y.-The University of Bridgeport baseball team opened its 2015 East Coast Conference schedule on Sunday with a doubleheader split against Dowling College in a pair games that were played at Dowling's home field with the Purple Knights serving as the home team.  In the opener, UB walked off with a 2-1 victory in 10 innings, and in the nightcap, the Golden Lions earned a split with a 7-2 win. Bridgeport is now 4-12 overall and 1-1 in the ECC.  Dowling is now 5-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play.

In the opener, sophomore Dylan Steigerwald (Holbrook, N.Y.) was hit by a pitch with one out in the bottom of the tenth inning.  Steigerwald then stole second base and advanced to third on a fly out to right by senior John Ascenzia (West Haven, Conn.).  After an intentional walk to senior Tim Bickford (Wallingford, Conn.), who had two hits in game one, sophomore Casey McCone (Milford, Conn.) drove home the winning run with a long, line drive single to left field.

McCone's hit made a winner out of junior Rob Anderson (Stratford, Conn.), who is now 2-0 on the season.  Anderson worked four scoreless of relief in which he allowed only three hits and fanned four batters.  Senior Brian O'Keefe (Milford, Conn.) started the opener for UB going six innings in which he allowed only one unearned run on only three hits while striking out eight and walking three.

In game two, Dowling came back from a 2-1 deficit scoring three runs in the fifth and sixth innings on its way to the 7-2 win.

The Purple Knights were limited to only three hits in the nightcap, and Casey McCone had Bridgeport's lone RBI.

The same two teams will meet on Long Island again on Monday at 3:00 p/m. for a single, nine-inning game.